Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Ancient Magus' Bride
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fantaselion
 Posts: 351 |
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You need to remember that this is a 2-cour series. So its not going to explore all that stuff immediatly like a 1-cour series would. |
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Niello
Posts: 302 |
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Episode 3 execution was way off for me. Loved the chapter, but the episode did little other than making me feel bored. The song, while nice, just seem like it was shoved in for drama rather than feeling natural. There are a lot of boring stillness in what is supposed to be the climax of the episode, and I suspect it's mainly because they wanted to play enough of the song, so they pad out the scene so it's the same lenght as the music. If only they at least tried to do something more creative with the shots. It also didn't help that I jumped into the episode after watching Land of the Lustrous.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18186 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I found this episode to be emotionally involving on a number of levels, which is why I'm surprised by the comparatively blah reactions I've seen so far.
I also wholly disagree that Chise shouldn't be in it or even that she's the series' weak point. She's definitely not the most emotive of characters, but everything that has transpired so far depicts her as slowly progressing out of a very dark place. Convincing someone that life isn't just misery, that she shouldn't (as Niven put it) "envy the dead," isn't a quick or simple fix, and I deeply respect the story for not glossing over that process. The early chapters of the source manga are as much life lessons for Chise as they are introductions into the realm of magic and the animated version definitely isn't missing that point. |
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belvadeer
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Episode 3 is a very good adaptation of the manga chapter, and all the emotion I felt reading that chapter were amplified with the anime thanks to the music and sounds. And hey, I'm never keen on spoiler[watching dragons die, so watching Nevin's death in anime form hit me harder than it did when I read the manga].
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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This show has a lot of good and not so good going on at the same time. I like the music and the fantasy setting, and the concept of being a mage's apprentice is always something that I think makes for great storytelling.
However, I agree that Chise is a weak point for this show as of now. Her level of passiveness is in my opinion a negative. She does come across as very much an empty vessel, just being lead from one area to the next, so that the audience can experience things in her place. (In episode one, Elias was leading her, in episode 2 it was the fairies, and now it was dragon rider bishounen.) I get that she is supposed to be a "troubled soul" and thus we should expect some of this, but I really don't think you can do 5, 6, or 7 episodes of this and have it still be a good show. Some people are saying "she will be better in the 2nd cour." Should we really have to wait that long for the main character to stop being a dud? I think you can have a troubled character but still have them stand out and be capable of creating some intrigue rather than just be lead about by various forces who want her for one reason or another. I really liked the idea of the dragons, but I thought their designs were kind of weak to be honest. They were kind of cute, but didn't look all that "draconic." Also, I was mildly annoyed by the dragon rider guy pretending to be a bad guy to kidnap Chise at the start of the episode only to be revealed to be a good guy after that. This is a device that gets used in a lot of anime, where they try to introduce drama by having someone act like they are a bad guy by taking some kind of drastic action, and then immediately after that particular scene is over, they are actually a good guy. SURPRISE!! Haha, bet you didn't see that coming! It is used again and again and again, in many shows, and I think has become such a cheap tactic. I similarly complained when it popped up in Made in Abyss, though they didn't do that again after using it with Ozen so I let it go. I assume this show won't try using that more than once (I hope...). The story of the adult dragon was nice. I thought the song was fine, and the flying scene was pretty. But again, I think this show so far is doing well on sort of aesthetics but suffering on substance overall. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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While I get that some people might be turned off by Chise's so-called passivity, I don't really see it that way. We have got lots of indication that her potential is quite huge. The fairies are interested in her and the old dragon dude took a shine to her, too. You get the sense he wouldn't have shown "his sky" to just anybody. Chise strikes me as a deeply damaged character who is still numb from her experiences. She ain't gonna morph into a sassy, feisty, firecracker overnight.
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2459 |
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If anything I felt like episode 3 was the one that used Chise's character to its best, given her quick connection to the dying dragon. I could understand the complaint in the previous episodes (and agree with it), though.
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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My goodness, we're only at episode three of a two-cour series, and people are complaining that Chise is too passive? This young woman has been the target of abuse her entire life. Do you think she is just going to jump out of her shell right off the bat? I see her learning and growing with each episode, which is fine for now. If she's still the same character in episode fifteen, then I might agree with the criticisms, but really, does everything have to take place at a breakneck clip these days? I haven't read the manga, but I'd bet Bride will progress at a languid pace for some time.
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trilaan
 Posts: 1054 Location: Texas |
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Next week begins the stuff I didn't see in a theater and I am excited! The adaptation is as epic as I was hoping for and is shaping up to be even more heart-felt and beautiful than the manga is.
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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As someone who battles depression, I find a lot of the comments about Chise to be borderline disturbing. We don't have a real sense of timing at this point (later manga volumes have us reaching Christmas, so we can judge timing by seasons), but we can't be more than a few weeks past episode 1.
Episode 1, where Chise tried to commit suicide. I am lucky in that I have never been to a point that low, but I've had quite a few points where it takes me a while to pull myself back up. Given how low she was, and what she had gone through up to that point, I find it ridiculous that people are expecting her to be anything other than how she is. Healing takes time, and the deeper the wounds, the longer it takes to heal. |
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Morry
Posts: 756 |
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Personally, Chise's the most interesting character next to Elias. I like exploring these suicidal types when they're not the sole focus.
We'll be wrapping up volume 1 next week and start doubling up on chapters so we'll see how the new pacing affects opinions. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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The show should have started with that. Or, there could have been a mixture of some scenes that showed her relationship with others along with her emoting more (and I'm not talking about the random occasional flashbacks where she is standing alone in a dark space and freaky looking silhouettes are pointing at her/talking about her). If you want a good example of how this concept was executed in a fairly excellent fashion, watch Twelve Kingdoms. Youko is a similar type of character to Chise, albeit not quite as depressed. She is similarly messed up though. However, although Youko has things happening to her in the first several episodes, she is not really passive. At the beginning she is frightened and sort of flailing about, trying to get her bearings. But she doesn't just wait while others lead her about. Also, the writer was very clever by having something inserted into Youko (involuntarily) that causes her to take action at certain times, even at the beginning. This way, even when she was acting realistically frightened and nervous when monsters were attacking, she could be forced into badassery. Not that Chise would have to have the same thing, but there are things that can be introduced to spice things up rather than just have the main character be a bland doll that everyone mysteriously desires to possess. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18186 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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^^
That's an apples-and-oranges comparison, CK, as the first story arc of Twelve Kingdoms is essentially an action-oriented tale whereas this one is not. I'd also point out that Yoko was generally not well-thought-of as a character in the early going, either; it was only over time that she blossomed. For the first three episodes she was dragged along by circumstances every bit as much as Chise is in this series. Besides, Chise and Yoko are very little alike aside from them both having red hair. Yoko was a girl who didn't have much sense of personal identity because she was only trying to please others so they would like her, and she wasn't aware herself of what she was doing. Chise, OTOH, is all too aware, and that awareness was crushing her. |
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2061 |
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I agree with those who say that Chise is going to take some time to get out of her depressive state. That sort of mentality is not something to be taken lightly. I mean, her whole life before Elias has been nothing but misery, so she isn’t going to be turning her mood around overnight. (It will take at least more than 3 episodes) She isn’t dragging anything down in the story that’s being told and I personally find her to be interesting and sympathetic. There is sound substance here in The Ancient Magus Bride and plenty to look forward to.
Also, maybe the complainers should watch the OVAs that came out before the TV series to get a better idea of her mental state now due to what happened in her past (The abuse). It sounds to me like they didn’t, so they should probably get on that if they are feeling like they are now. @ Key - I totally agree with you and was just going to say that, but you beat me to the punch. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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I would not say that Youko was dragged around as much in the first three episodes. She was more put into dangerous situations by others and then we, the audience, watched her react to that. (Also, after Keiki brings her to the alternate world, he is separated from her for a long time so she is basically on her own, trying to survive in what appears to her to be a totally insane world.) So her character was developed differently, because she was more "reacting" to her surroundings rather than just being present and observing. Sometimes it was just her being terrified or whining about something. Other times, it was her entering badass mode and chopping heads off with a mystical sword. Either way, she was doing things, and like I said it's not so much about how passive of a person they are if the writer can at least add something unusual to the character to spice them up. With Youko, it was the demon that was put into her that would force her to take action when she was in danger. Without that, the first few episodes might have been more boring. Here, I feel like there are obvious ways that Chise could similarly be spiced up. She has this special "sleigh beggy" power, and we only had a hint of that with the crystal flowers. But that was pretty meh, other than having a pretty effect. Otherwise, we just keep getting told about her special ability. Every other character who has been introduced thus far has basically had the sole purpose of reminding us that Chise has a hidden "Sleigh beggy" power and that it is really awesome, and most of them have shown interest in possessing her or otherwise observing that power. There's a lot of "telling" rather than "showing" going on here. I'm just going on what has been done so far. Yes, we are only 3 episodes in but I've seen better at this point in a show. |
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